Businessman and founder Robert W. Welch, Jr. (1899–1985) developed an organizational infrastructure in 1958 of chapters nationwide. Its main activity in the 1960s, said Rick Perlstein, "comprised monthly meetings to watch a film by Welch, followed by writing postcards or letters to government officials linking specific policies to the Communist menace".[9] After an early rise in membership and influence, efforts by those such as conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. and National Review led the JBS to be identified as a fringe element of the conservative movement, mostly in fear of the radicalization of the American right.[10][11]

The society has been described as "ultraconservative",[20] "far right",[21] and "extremist".[22] Other sources consider the society part of the patriot movement.[23][24] The Southern Poverty Law Center, for example, lists the society as a 'Patriot' group, a group that "advocate[s] or adhere[s] to extreme antigovernment doctrines".[25]

The society's activities include distribution of literature, pamphlets, magazines, videos and other material while sponsoring a Speaker's Bureau, which invites "speakers who are keenly aware of the motivations that drive political policy".[36] One of the first public activities of the society was a "Get US Out!" (of membership in the UN) campaign, which claimed in 1959 that the "Real nature of [the] UN is to build a One World Government".[37] In 1960, Welch advised JBS members to: "Join your local P.T.A. at the beginning of the school year, get your conservative friends to do likewise, and go to work to take it over."[38]One Man's Opinion,[39] a magazine launched by Welch in 1956, was renamed American Opinion,[40] and became the society's official publication. The society publishes The New American, a biweekly magazine.[13][41]

By March 1961 the society had 60,000 to 100,000 members and, according to Welch, "a staff of 28 people in the Home Office; about 30 Coordinators (or Major Coordinators) in the field, who are fully paid as to salary and expenses; and about 100 Coordinators (or Section Leaders as they are called in some areas), who work on a volunteer basis as to all or part of their salary, or expenses, or both". According to Political Research Associates (a non-profit research group that investigates the far right), the society "pioneered grassroots lobbying, combining educational meetings, petition drives and letter-writing campaigns.[35] One early campaign against the second summit between the United States and the Soviet Union generated over 600,000 postcards and letters, according to the society. In that same year Welch offered $2,300 in prizes to college students for the best essays on "grounds of impeachment" of Chief Justice Warren, a prime target of ultra-conservatives.[42] A June 1964 society campaign to oppose Xerox corporate sponsorship of TV programs favorable to the UN produced 51,279 letters from 12,785 individuals."[35]

In 1962, William F. Buckley, Jr., editor of the main conservative magazine, the National Review, denounced Welch and the John Birch Society as "far removed from common sense" and urged the GOP to purge itself of Welch's influence.[43]

In the late 1960s Welch insisted that the Johnson administration's fight against communism in Vietnam was part of a communist plot aimed at taking over the United States. Welch demanded that the United States get out of Vietnam, thus aligning the Society with the left.[44] The society opposed water fluoridation, which it called "mass medicine".[45][46][47]
The JBS was moderately active in the 1960s with numerous chapters, but rarely engaged in coalition building with other conservatives. It was rejected by most conservatives because of Welch's conspiracy theories. The philosopher Ayn Rand said in a 1964 Playboy interview, "I consider the Birch Society futile, because they are not for capitalism but merely against communism ... I gather they believe that the disastrous state of today's world is caused by a communist conspiracy. This is childishly naïve and superficial. No country can be destroyed by a mere conspiracy, it can be destroyed only by ideas."[48][49]

Former Eisenhower cabinet member Ezra Taft Benson—a leading Mormon—spoke in favor of the John Birch Society, but in January 1963 the LDS church issued a statement distancing itself from the Society.[50] Antisemitic, racist, anti-Mormon, anti-Masonic groups criticized the organization's acceptance of Jews, non-whites, Masons, and Mormons as members. These opponents accused Welch of harboring feminist, ecumenical, and evolutionary ideas.[51][52][53] Welch rejected these accusations by his detractors: "All we are interested in here is opposing the advance of the Communists, and eventually destroying the whole Communist conspiracy, so that Jews and Christians alike, and Mohammedans and Buddhists, can again have a decent world in which to live."[54]

In 1964 Welch favored Barry Goldwater for the Republican presidential nomination, but the membership split, with two-thirds supporting Goldwater and one-third supporting Richard Nixon, who did not run. A number of Birch members and their allies were Goldwater supporters in 1964[43] and some were delegates at the 1964 Republican National Convention.

In April 1966, a New York Times article on New Jersey and the society voiced—in part—a concern for "the increasing tempo of radical right attacks on local government, libraries, school boards, parent-teacher associations, mental health programs, the Republican Party and, most recently, the ecumenical movement."[55] It then characterized the society as "by far the most successful and 'respectable' radical right organization in the country. It operates alone or in support of other extremist organizations whose major preoccupation, like that of the Birchers, is the internal Communist conspiracy in the United States."

Welch wrote in a widely circulated statement, The Politician, "Could Eisenhower really be simply a smart politician, entirely without principles and hungry for glory, who is only the tool of the Communists? The answer is yes." He went on. "With regard to ... Eisenhower, it is difficult to avoid raising the question of deliberate treason."[56]

The controversial paragraph was removed before final publication of The Politician.[57]

The sensationalism of Welch's charges against Eisenhower prompted several conservatives and Republicans, most prominently Goldwater and the intellectuals of William F. Buckley's circle, to renounce outright or quietly shun the group. Buckley, an early friend and admirer of Welch, regarded his accusations against Eisenhower as "paranoid and idiotic libels" and attempted unsuccessfully to purge Welch from the Birch Society.[58] From then on Buckley, who was editor of National Review, became the leading intellectual spokesman and organizer of the anti-Bircher conservatives.[59] Buckley's biographer John B. Judis wrote that "Buckley was beginning to worry that with the John Birch Society growing so rapidly, the right-wing upsurge in the country would take an ugly, even Fascist turn rather than leading toward the kind of conservatism National Review had promoted."[59]

The booklet found support from Ezra Taft Benson, Eisenhower's Secretary of Agriculture who later became the 13th President of the LDS Church. In a letter to his friend FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, Benson asked "how can a man [Eisenhower] who seems to be so strong for Christian principles and base American concepts be so effectively used as a tool to serve the communist conspiracy?" Benson privately fought to prevent the bureau from condemning the JBS, which prompted Hoover to distance himself from Benson. At one point in 1971 Hoover directed his staff to lie to Benson to avoid having to meet with him about the issue.[60]

The society was at the center of a free-speech law case in the 1970s, after American Opinion accused a Chicago lawyer, Elmer Gertz, who was representing the family of a young man killed by a police officer, of being part of a Communist conspiracy to merge all police agencies in the country into one large force. The resulting libel suit, Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., reached the United States Supreme Court, which held that a state may allow a private figure such as Gertz to recover actual damages from a media defendant without proving malice, but that a public figure does have to prove actual malice, according to the standard laid out in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, in order to recover presumed damages or punitive damages.[61] The court ordered a retrial in which Gertz prevailed.

Key society causes of the 1970s included opposition to both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and to the establishment of diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China. The society claimed in 1973 that the regime of Mao Zedong had murdered 64 million Chinese as of that year and that it was the primary supplier of illicit heroin into the United States. This led to bumper stickers showing a pair of scissors cutting a hypodermic needle in half accompanied by the slogan "Cut The Red China Connection". The society also was opposed to transferring control of the Panama Canal from American to Panamanian sovereignty.[62]

The society was organized into local chapters during this period. Ernest Brosang, a New Jersey regional coordinator, claimed that it was virtually impossible for opponents of the society to penetrate its policy-making levels, thereby protecting it from "anti-American" takeover attempts. Its activities included the distribution of literature critical of civil rights legislation, warnings over the influence of the United Nations, and the release of petitions to impeach United States Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren. To spread their message, members held showings of documentary films and operated initiatives such as "Let Freedom Ring", a nationwide network of recorded telephone messages.[citation needed]

A sign advocating America's withdrawal produced by the John Birch Society

By the time of Welch's death in 1985, the society's membership and influence had dramatically declined. The society continues to press for an end to United States membership in the United Nations. As evidence of the effectiveness of JBS efforts, the society points to the Utah State Legislature's failed resolution calling for United States withdrawal, as well as the actions of several other states where the Society's membership has been active. Since its founding, the society has repeatedly opposed United States military intervention overseas, although it strongly supports the American military. It has issued calls to "Bring Our Troops Home" in every conflict since its founding, including Vietnam. The society also has a national speakers' committee called American Opinion Speakers Bureau (AOSB) and an anti-tax committee called TRIM (Tax Reform IMmediately).[63]

The second head of the Society was Congressman Larry McDonald (D) from Georgia, who was killed on September 1, 1983, when airliner KAL 007 was shot down by a Soviet interceptor.

William P. Hoar has been active as a writer for the Society. He is noted for very strong attacks on mainstream politicians from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. He publishes regularly in The New American and its predecessor American Opinion. He coauthored The Clinton Clique with Larry Abraham alleging that Clinton was part of the Anglo-American conspiracy supposedly ruled through the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. The Birch Society publications arm, "Western Islands" published his Architects of Conspiracy: An Intriguing History (1984) and Huntington House Publishers published his Handouts and Pickpockets: Our Government Gone Berserk (1996).[64]

The Society has been active in supporting the auditing of, and aims to eventually dismantle, the Federal Reserve System.[65] The JBS holds that the United States Constitution gives only Congress the ability to coin money, and does not permit it to delegate this power, or to transform the dollar into a fiat currency not backed by gold or silver.[citation needed]

Although membership numbers are kept private, the JBS has reported a resurgence of members during the Trump administration, specifically in Texas. The organization's goals in Texas include opposition to the UN's Agenda 21 based on a conspiracy theory that it will "establish control over all human activity", and opposition to a bill that would allow undocumented migrants to pay in-state tuition for Texas state colleges.[70]

Jeet Heer, in The New Republic, has said that while the organization's influence peaked in the 1970s, its legacy of conspiracy theories and "overt anti-Semitism" has become a dominant strain in the conservative movement.[71]

In 1961 the society was lampooned in a song named "The John Birch Society" by the Chad Mitchell Trio.

In 1962 Bob Dylan recorded "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", which poked fun at the society and its tendency to see Communist conspiracies in many situations. When he attempted to perform it on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1963, however, CBS's Standards and Practices department forbade it, fearing that lyrics equating the Society’s views with those of Adolf Hitler might trigger a defamation lawsuit. Dylan was offered the opportunity to perform a different song, but he responded that if he could not sing the number of his choice he would rather not appear at all. The story generated widespread media attention in the days that followed; Sullivan denounced the network's decision in published interviews.[73]

Cartoonist Walt Kelly lampooned the John Birch Society in his comic strip Pogo, with two of his less savory characters creating "The Jack Acid Society" to weed out anyone they suspected of being un-American. The strips, along with some original material, were collected and published in 1962 as The Jack Acid Society Black Book.

The 1973 song "Uneasy Rider", by Charlie Daniels, contains the line "I'm a faithful follower of Brother John Birch", which is uttered (in the context of the song's story) by the "fella with green teeth", to contradict the statement by the protagonist that "He's a undercover agent for the FBI and he's been sent down here to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan!".[74]

^Blumenthal, Max (2010). Republican Gomorrah : inside the movement that shattered the party. New York, NY: Nation Books. p. 332. ISBN1568584172. Skousen's vocal support for the Far-right John Birch Society's claim that communists controlled President Dwight Eisenhower cost him the support of the corporate backers who had paid for his Red-bashing lecture tours.

^Burch, Kurt; Robert Allen Denemark (1997). Constituting international political economy. Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 125. ISBN978-1-55587-660-9.Oshinsky, David (January 27, 2008). "In the Heart of the Heart of Conspiracy". The New York Times Book Review. p. 23.Danielson, Chris (February 2009). "Lily White and Hard Right: The Mississippi Republican Party and Black Voting, 1965–1980". The Journal of Southern History. Athens. 75 (1): 83.Lee, Martha F (Fall 2005). "Nesta Webster: The Voice of Conspiracy". Journal of Women's History. Baltimore. 17 (3): 81. doi:10.1353/jowh.2005.0033.Blumenthal, Max (2010). Republican Gomorrah : inside the movement that shattered the party. New York, NY: Nation Books. p. 332. ISBN1568584172. Skousen's vocal support for the Far-right John Birch Society's claim that communists controlled President Dwight Eisenhower cost him the support of the corporate backers who had paid for his Red-bashing lecture tours.

^"'Patriot' Groups". Southern Poverty Law Center. February 26, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2018. Generally, Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the 'New World Order' or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. ... Listing here does not imply that the groups advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist.

^Hoover's 500: Profiles of America's Largest Business Enterprises. Hoover's Business Press. 1996. p. 286. ISBN978-1-57311-009-9. In 1929 Koch took his process to the Soviet Union, but he grew disenchanted with Stalinism and returned home to become a founding member of the anticommunist John Birch Society.

^Wayne, Leslie (December 7, 1986). "Brothers at Odds". The New York Times. NY. Sec. 6; Part 2, p 100 col. 1. ISSN0362-4331. He returned a fervent anti-Communist who would later become a founding member of the John Birch Society.

^Diamond, Sara (1995). Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States. NY: Guilford Press. p. 324 n. 86. ISBN0-89862-862-8.

^Dion Lefler (October 27, 2012). "Fluoride fight has long roots, passionate advocates". The Wichita Eagle. Retrieved December 8, 2016. The John Birch Society was an active participant in Wichita's 1964 referendum that repealed fluoridation after the City Commission had voted to implement it.

^William Heisel (November 11, 2016). "Does fluoride have lessons for the vaccine debate?". Center for Health Journalism Newsletter. Retrieved December 8, 2016. From the 1940s through the 1960s, groups like the John Birch Society were vocal opponents of water fluoridation.

^Welch, Robert (1975). The Politician. Boston: Western Islands. cxxxviii–cxxxix. ISBN99908-64-98-5. At this point in the original manuscript, there was one paragraph in which I expressed my own personal belief as to the most likely explanation of the events and actions with this document had tried to bring into focus. In a confidential letter, neither published nor offered for sale and restricted to friends who were expected to respect the confidence but offer me in exchange their own points of view, this seemed entirely permissible and proper. It does not seem so for an edition of the letter that is now to be published and given, probably, fairly wide distribution. So that paragraph, and two explanatory paragraphs, connected with it, have been omitted here. And the reader is left entirely free to draw his own conclusions.